Snapshots
by rideswithprongs
Summary: As I can't really justify posting every single drabble I write separately, this is where I will be posting all of my drabbles. Please review!
1. Here Comes The Sun

**Here Comes The Sun**

Lily stands at the window outside the History of Magic classroom and stares out of it morosely. The sun is shining deliciously down into the grounds, and she simply cannot think of anything worse than listening to Binns drone on, when she could be outside feeling the warmth on her skin. She lets out a heavy sigh, wishing that she, as Head Girl, had the power to implement rules. She knows what her first one would be; no History of Magic on sunny days.

Feeling someone come up behind her, Lily snaps out of her thoughts. She doesn't need to turn around to know who it is; she can tell by the tread of his feet, and the way he smells, and the way the little hairs on the back of her neck stand up. When a pair of familiar arms wind their way around her, she instinctively sinks into the owner of them, her body fitting against his perfectly, as if made for that purpose.

James presses a kiss to the side of her head, and then his mouth finds her ear, the breath he expels before he speaks making her shiver. "Miss Evans, you _aren't _wishing you were somewhere other than class, are you?" he drawled into her ear.

"Of course not," she snaps, a blatant lie that she cannot keep up for even half a second. "But… but it's just so nice outside." She sighed again; talking about it was perhaps worse than thinking about it.

"Y'know, if you wanted to pass a rather more _pleasant_ hour by the lake, we could get away with it. Say some Head duties came up," James tempts.

Although her whole body practically twitches in the direction of outside, and sun, Lily shakes her head adamantly. "No. No way. We can't" James starts trying to turn Lily around in his arms, perhaps realising that he has a better shot of winning the argument if Lily is actually looking at him, but she resists. "Oh don't do that Mister."

"Do what?" asks James innocently.

"Come over here with your stupid face and your stupid hair and your stupid smile so that I am putty in your hands. I'm telling you Mister, it will not work. I won't allow you to corrupt me further. You can't make me look at you."

A small chuckle escapes James' lips and he increases his efforts to get her to face him. It works; his Quidditch arms are no match for her, and within seconds she is facing him, her eyes firmly closed. James laughs again, and leans forward; presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Open your eyes." Lily shakes her head; in response, James shifts so he can kiss the other corner.

"Not in the corridor please James, I'm sure everyone else would like to keep their lunch down," Lily reprimands, her eyes still shut.

"Won't stop until you open your eyes." The statement is childish, but it is successful; very public displays of affection are, in Lily's opinion, worse than having to look at James. She cracks her eyes open warily, takes one look at the pleading in James' eyes and knows she has lost the battle; the lure of the sun and an afternoon with James is too much.

Grabbing him by the hand, Lily starts leading the way outside, her emotions somewhere between excited and apprehensive. "If you get me into trouble, I am going to kill you," she warns him. "And wipe that stupid 'I've won' smile of your face."

"But I have won."

"Nothing to do with you," Lily says hurriedly. "It was the sun."

James laughs and lets go of her hand so that he can wind his arm around her waist. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to lie, Evans? Or were you dragged up?" he teases.

"I hate you."

"You love me." Lily can't be bothered to try and find the effort to deny his claim; the heat has made her sleepy and she wouldn't have a leg to stand on anyway, the truth being so ridiculously obvious.

Much later, the afternoon having been spent lounging in the grass talking about nothing of particular importance, Lily burrows into James' side – again marvelling at how well she fit there – and presses a kiss to his temple, before whispering into his ear, "Do you want to know a secret?"

"Always," James replies curiously.

"It's kind of not so bad when you corrupt me."


	2. A Very UnPerfect Birthday

**A Very Un-Perfect Birthday**

Lily has been planning James' birthday for weeks. After all, it isn't every day a wizard turns eighteen. Sirius had made it quite clear when she started planning that the evening of James' birthday was going to be spent doing Marauder things – exactly what, Lily doesn't know, and she isn't sure she wants to – so she has planned to swipe James for the afternoon. It means missing Charms, but it is James' birthday and it isn't as if she needs the practice.

James' gift has been wrapped since last week – the box of Quidditch supplies isn't very original, but Lily's mother always tells her 'to stick to what you know' and it will definitely score her some points with James – and with a little persuasion and a lot of flattery the House Elves have agreed to have a basket of James' favourite food ready for an afternoon-long picnic by the lake.

Everything should have been perfect. Of course, Lily knows life doesn't always go the way you planned – the fact that she has spent weeks planning James' birthday is testament to that – so she ought to have been less surprised when, after coming out of the kitchens, the basket gripped in her hand, she discovers it is raining. Her disappointment is palpable; she stops moving the minute she spots it through the window, her face collapsing into a frown. James, whose hand she had been clutching tightly as she dragged him excitedly from the kitchen towards the entrance hall, crashes into the back of her at her abrupt stop.

"Why'd you stop," he complains, rubbing the spot on his shoulder that took most of the impact.

"It's raining," Lily answers dejectedly.

"That's very observant. Well done." James pats her on the back, as if rewarding clever behaviour. "Y'know, I don't care what the others say about you, I think you're brilliantly clever."

Lily turns away from the window so she can face him. "Very funny," she says drily. "Everything is ruined."

James rolls his eyes. "Don't be over dramatic. Everything is not ruined."

Lily gestures to the picnic basket. "Can't have a picnic in the rain, Potter."

James rolls his eyes again, an action he seems to do a lot when he is with Lily. "Are you a witch, or what?" He doesn't wait for an answer, instead grabbing her hand and taking over the dragging-outside mission.

With James tugging at her hand determinedly, they are in the Entrance Hall and heading outside into the pouring rain in no time. James breaks out into a run, Lily following suit, and doesn't stop until he has reached their favourite out-of-view-of-the-castle spot.

"I'm all wet," Lily complains.

"Well aren't we using our powers of observation a lot today?"

Lily grumbles at him in response, but James ignores her and starts rustling about in his bag. "Aha!" he exclaims triumphantly as he pulls out a quill, which he quickly transforms into an outrageously oversized umbrella. "You're lucky I'm so good at Transfiguration."

"Yes, your adeptness at Transfiguration is the only reason I'm going out with you." Lily sets the basket down on the ground and pulls her wand out, performing a drying spell on a patch of ground underneath her feet. "Quick, get that umbrella over here before it gets all wet again."

James ambles over towards Lily slowly, probably to annoy her, but she doesn't rise to it. Her skill at Charm work matches his in Transfiguration, something she proves by managing to keep the ground dry whilst she waits for him to position the umbrella and by the drying spell she performs on the pair of them once they are both ensconced under the umbrella together. One spell to hold up the umbrella and a warming one later, and the only thing preventing the picnic to being as close to perfect as it can get under the circumstances, is Lily. She is still a bit miffed about the rain ruining her plans and is unable to get rid of the pout on her face.

"Stop pouting Evans," James says, putting a comforting hand on her knee. "This is great, really."

But I didn't want it to be great. I wanted it to be perfect," Lily moans. "It's your first birthday with us as a couple."

"Life isn't perfect. Take tonight; there's nothing I'd like more than to take advantage of it being my birthday so I can kick the boys out of the dorm and have my wicked way with you, but if I did that, Sirius would pout. For the rest of our lives, probably."

Lily knows James doesn't mean that; he is only trying to cheer her up – he has been looking forward to his night of debauchery with the boys for ages – but it does the trick. She grins over at him, a mischievous look on her face. "Think you can extend the birthday favours to tomorrow night?" she asks, winking at him.

James smirks over at her, his eyes twinkling. "I reckon something could be arranged."

Later, when the basket of food is a shade of its former glory – nothing, but a mixture of empty food wrappers and crumbs – and the warming spell has faded enough to justify Lily burrowing herself into James' side, she presses a kiss to his neck. "Happy Birthday," she says softly.

James shifts his head so he can capture her lips with his. "Thanks Evans," he murmurs against her lips.


	3. Snowballing

**Snowballing**

Christmas has slowly been creeping through the castle for the last few weeks; snow has been falling for a few days now, leaving a perfect blanket of white powder over the ground, it is christmassy everywhere you turn and there is a certain magic in the air that only this time of year can bring. Term is winding down – there are only a few days left until they finish for the holidays – so Lily doesn't find it too arduous to ignore the last pieces of homework she has in lieu of joining her housemates for a snowball fight.

It isn't very long before they are nothing but a sodden, shrieking bunch and Lily is finding it increasingly hard to see through the melted snow that drips down her face and the blur of white snowballs that whiz past her eye line, so she is completely startled when she is unexpectedly tackled to the ground. She lands ungracefully onto her back, the blanket of snow softening her fall, a small cry escaping her when the mystery tackler falls on top of her.

She lifts a hand to wipe the wet out of her eyes so she can see, and finds that she is looking up into the hazel eyes of a certain bespectacled boy. She half glares, half smiles up at him and is inexplicably a little too pleased that it is him lying on top of her, rather than someone else. In the few months that they have worked together as head boy and girl she has seen a side to him she never knew – or perhaps wanted to know – he had. James is still cocky and arrogant and unmercifully maddening when he wants to be, but he is also warm and funny and loyal and easy to look at and Lily is slowly coming to the conclusion that those things make her not mind how frustrating he can be sometimes.

"You absolute hooligan," she mock scolds him. "What've I done to deserve this manhandling?"

"Well," he begins as he tugs at the scarf that is tightly wound around her neck, though for what reason Lily has no idea, "you can call this," – with one last tug the scarf is yanked off her – "revenge for gallivanting off for the holidays and leaving me to deal with this reprobate lot alone." And before Lily even has time to squirm away from him in anticipation of what is coming next, he has shoved a handful of snow down her neck. She shrieks as the cold trickles down into her t-shirt, making her shiver – although perhaps that has less to do with the cold and more to do with James – and quickly grabs a handful of snow which she chucks in his face.

"You're the biggest reprobate of all of them," she yelps. James starts laughing as he wipes his face, and then Lily is laughing too, though why she doesn't know as it really isn't _that _funny. The close proximity with James has made her giddy and she cannot help but wonder if that is what's happening to him too.

Once their laughs have died down, James places his arms on either side of her and uses the leverage to jump to his feet, the loss of contact a bit too quick for Lily's liking. He reaches down and takes her hand so he can pull her up too and soon she finds herself on her feet, nose to nose with him. He stares into her eyes as he begins to wind her scarf back around her neck, and when his hands graze lightly across her skin she cannot move.

Perhaps he notices the flush that spreads across her cheeks, or perhaps he catches the way her breathing slows or maybe he is simply taking the initiative - Lily cannot be sure - but something makes James cup her face with his hands and lean forward to press his lip to hers.

It is only a ghost of a kiss; fleeting and brief, but Lily thinks it might just be the most perfect kiss of her life and finds that when he pulls away she can hardly breathe.

James is quiet for a moment, his eyes still on hers, and then, when he quietly says, "Can you honestly say you don't feel anything?" Lily realises that perhaps she feels too many things.


	4. Night Patrols

Night Patrols

When Lily thinks back to the letter she has long since lost, informing her she had been chosen for the Head Girls position and outlining a list of duties, she is certain that 'snog the Head Boy in dark corridors whilst patrolling' wasn't one of them. Yet here she is, held up against a wall entirely by James, as one of his hands inches further and further towards the hem of her skirt, when she really ought to be patrolling. Not that she minds, of course; she happens to like the feeling of James' hands inching up to her hem, not to mention the way his hand sits just right on the small of her back, or how his lips, which usually fit against hers so well, are clashing against hers so furiously and desperately; he tends to get a little more over enthusiastic during their night time sojourns in dark corners when they should be patrolling. The irony of the situation isn't lost on Lily; if they weren't the Head Boy and Girl, a perhaps more well behaved duo than them would be stalking the place, weeding out hidden couples just like them. The thought makes her giggle, the sound expelling across James' lips.

James pulls away slowly, detaching his lips from Lily's, his head craned so he can look up at her, something he does with a confused expression. "You know, it isn't very reassuring when you're kissing your girlfriend, and she laughs," he complains, his eyebrows rising up in question. "Is there a problem, Evans?"

Lily answers his confused expression with a sympathetic one of her own, and pulls his head back up to hers, settling her lips against his so she can nibble gently at his bottom lip. "Nope, no problem," she states firmly, pulling away ever so slightly. "The snogging is lovely. I was just thinking that we aren't too good at patrolling."

"Oh, right. Nice to know that when I'm thinking about taking your skirt off, you're thinking about patrols," James teases lightly. "Though I s'pose we ought to be putting a stop to these sorts of activities, rather than partaking in them. Maybe we should… stop this and do that?"

Shaking her head, Lily leans forward once more, closing the miniscule gap between them once again, and buries her head in his neck, her tongue reaching out to sweep along his pulse point in a way she knows drives him crazy. "But patrols are so boring and this is… not. Besides, it must nearly be ten by now anyway, no point starting now."

It is now James' turn to laugh, which he does whilst at the same time squirming underneath the feel of Lily's tongue running along his neck. "And everyone said I would be a bad influence on you," he breathes in a soft drawl.

Though perhaps, considering the way he is nudging her head up so he can capture her lips with his, they are both a bad influence on each other.


	5. First Few Moments

**First Few Moments**

Following the move to Godric's Hollow, mornings become the best part of Lily's day; those first few moments when she wakes up, lying next to James, the gentle sunlight trickling in through a gap in the curtain. The world is still and silent, the only sound the occasional song from a bird; it's too early for the sounds of cars or children on their way to school or for the neighbours to be calling hello to each other as they begin their days and Lily can believe, for those first few moments, that her and James are the only people in the world.

Later, after they have both gone about their days, doing work for the Order, Lily won't be able to hold up the pretence that everything is perfect; invariably bad news will have come their way and all she'll feel is the dull ebb of fading hope. But now, just after she opens her eyes, she can believe it, that everything _is _perfect, can take a grasp on that belief and hold it tight until they clamber out of bed and start the day.

Lily usually wakes up first, before the alarm has had a chance to sound out, and, rolling over so she is facing James, she lies and watches him, her lips tugging up at the corners at the way his hair sticks up in all directions and how even in sleep he has that unrelenting smirk on his face and how the sound of his heart seems to gently beat in time with hers.

At first when she used to watch James, he'd wake up suddenly, bolting upright in shock, unused to having someone beside him. He'd sink back into the pillows, giving a great shudder at being woken up so suddenly, muttering, "Will you bloody well stop watching me sleep? It's unnerving."

Now, however, he is used to it, has been for quite some time, and simply just cracks open an eye as he reaches an arm out and pulls Lily closer beside him. Neither of them speaks for a while, instead letting the quiet magnitude of the moment wash over them, both knowing that once they speak the peacefulness will be broken.

Eventually the alarm will go off and the sounds of the world waking up will creep in through the open window. James will lean down, pulling her even closer, and press his lips to hers, Lily marvelling at how even after all this time her heart races as fast as it did the very first time he kissed her. Then she will pull herself out of James' embrace so she can reach across and turn the alarm off, whilst he'll swing his legs over the edge of the bed, asking her what she wants for breakfast and their days will begin.

But for now, whilst the world is still and silent, and she is lying in James' arms, Lily can pretend that only her and James exist and that everything is perfect, and it is the best part of her day.


	6. Butterfly Effect

Lily and James arrive late to their classroom following a mishap with a first year and a terribly done jelly legs curse, only to find it deserted and a message informing the class that their professor is sick and they now have a free period. Upon their return to the common room, they discover it empty too. Neither can be bothered to hunt out their friends – they're all probably halfway to Hogsmeade by now – so they flop down onto a couch, deciding to take advantage of the peace in the empty common room.

Later, after they have wiled the afternoon away talking about everything from Quidditch to life after Hogwarts, James asks Lily if he can kiss her. It might be the tiny goose bumps that prickle on her skin when his arm brushes against her leg, or it might be that their conversations about nothing of great importance have suddenly become so very important to her, or it might be the way his eyes seem to look right into her when he asks her, but for some reason she doesn't hesitate in saying yes.

She expects that with the utterance of that simple word, the world will stop turning on its axis, but all that happens is James' mouth opens almost imperceptibly in surprise and her cheeks tinge with red. Then he is leaning towards her, it all at once seeming to take weeks for his face to be next to hers, yet like no time has passed at all. He lingers for a moment, his face so close to hers that she can see the tiny smattering of freckles that sit just above his top lip and feel his hot, sweet breath against her lips.

And then James closes the miniscule gap between them, his nose nudging hers and reminding her to tilt her head slightly, a small nervous laugh escaping her lips as she does so. It is James' mouth that swallows her laugh as his lips finally slide over hers. Lily closes her eyes, her heart rate immediately quickening, both with excitement and terror as her mind registers how well his lips, chapped from too many windy Quidditch practices, seem to fit over hers.

James is gentle at first. He brushes his lips against Lily's softly and almost excruciatingly slowly, like he is afraid that anything more will scare her away, but then she lets out a small whimper, whilst at the same time lifting a hand and twisting her fingers into the soft material of his jumper. Suddenly he is bolder, moving his hand to the back of her head, his fingers tangling into her hair, his lips now firm and insistent on hers.

Lily's whimpers aren't small now; they are unashamedly tumbling out of her mouth, asking desperately for more and James is more than happy to respond. His mouth opens, his breath that tastes like the chocolate he scoffed as they chatted earlier mingling with hers. Then his tongue is running along the contours of her mouth, probing gently. Lily's lips part without her even thinking about it, like it is the most natural thing in the world and their tongues come together in an intoxicating, all-consuming dance.

Nothing has ever felt more right to Lily than this, than James' tongue, warm against hers, and his hand in her hair and the feel of his heart pounding in time with hers because his chest is now pressed against hers. It is all she can do to remember to breathe. It feels like a whole lifetime has passed before James pulls away, his teeth lightly grazing her bottom lip as he does.

As she takes in a great gasp of air Lily opens her eyes, bringing them up to meet James'. He is gazing at her with such intensity that she cannot help but gasp. It is a while before either of them can speak.

Years later, as Lily sits with Harry in his nursery and soothes him back to sleep, she remembers that day when her professor was sick and James first kissed her. She suddenly understands the fragility of the world; how the tiniest beat of a butterfly's wing, a minute, seemingly insignificant event, can alter something forever. She realises that if her professor hadn't been sick she might not be sitting here today, in this house where she hides, afraid for the life of herself and her family. But if she could, she wouldn't go back and change it for anything.


End file.
